Steeldogs sign Alex Oldale as starting netminder from Storm.
A two way contract with Steelers.
Superb pick up by the dogs, they'll be a force next season
Oldale Back Home to Sheffield After Elite League Time with Manchester Storm
It’s a return to Sheffield for 20 year old Elite League goalie Alex Oldale, after confirmation that he has signed a contract to leave the Manchester Storm and play for the Steeldogs.
It is a huge signing of intent from the Steeldogs that we mean business in 2025-26 in bringing the most promissing young British goalie back to Ice Sheffield where he has signed a two way contract with the Steeldogs and Steelers.
Of course Alex will be no stranger to ICE Sheffield, he has spent many years there in the Sheffield junior system.
However, In 2022-23 Alex left and headed to Blackburn to play in NIHL 1 for the Hawks posting an impressive 90.2% saves against average in 20 league games
After representing Great Britain at U18 and U20, Alex moved on to the Elite League with Manchester Storm, starting 13 games, claiming his first proffessional wins (4 in total) and posting another 90% plus saves against average in 2023-24
With another valuable year’s experience behind him with the Storm last season, Alex now moves home to take the starting goalies position with the Steeldogs under new head coach Slava Koulikov.
Steeldogs General Manager Jamie Mcllroy said “We’ve said that we wanted to bring Sheffield players home to play hockey where they belong.
“Alex fits that mould, and he’s a player who we’ve monitored for quite some time. He’s spent the past few Seasons away from Sheffield, in search of opportunities to develop his game. Now that we have the direct affiliation with the Steelers, we’re able to give him the scope to reach his full potential, whilst gaining valuable minutes with us to push him onto the next level.
He’s shown that he’s more than capable of performing at Elite League level when called upon; that’s why we’ll be looking for him to come in and give us the best chance of winning, regardless of our opponents. I believe this will be a breakout Season for Alex, and he’s hungry to come in and battle to establish himself as a go-to-guy.”
On returning to the Sheffield Ice Hockey family Alex Oldale commented “I’m really looking forward to being able to further my career here in Sheffield.The opportunity to be able to continue my development I think can only bring me positive things. I aspire to work hard and compete to do all I can to help the team bring trophies to my home town.
“I can’t thank everybody enough for the support I’ve already received to help me to get to where I am, and I’m excited for everyone’s support come the new season to push the team to what hopefully will be a great year.”
Not unhappy with that, but did it really warrant 5 days of build up? Could have just released that at the weekend. I get the stretching out of announcements for engagement but I wouldn't do the build up thing for any players other than massive signings or returnees (i.e Greenfield I'd have zero issue with that kind of build up)
ginger wrote:Not unhappy with that, but did it really warrant 5 days of build up? Could have just released that at the weekend. I get the stretching out of announcements for engagement but I wouldn't do the build up thing for any players other than massive signings or returnees (i.e Greenfield I'd have zero issue with that kind of build up)
Probably trying to make it a bigger thing, signing from our Arch Rivals, the son of their old coach etc.
Good that we are being a Brit in, but I’m interested in who he is replacing and are we going to be able to bolster the team to balance out the difference whilst he gets up to speed and reaches his potential.
